Tag: New

The room was silent as I thought it would be, I took the opportunity, got up and walked out but not before I dragged Efya with me and warned her never to try that ambush rubbish with me again, I hope she listened, this one was as stubborn as they come.

“Ajifa I want to ask you something.” Oh boy, what’s she got stuck in her head this time, at 16 she already acted like a 25 year old. Life had hardened her at such an early age.

“yes” I reply whilst scrolling through my phone. “what do you really do for a living? I know you don’t work customer service for CBN as you claim, just tell me and I promise not to Judge you no matter what.”

I laugh hysterically, pick my bag and begin to rummage for the ID card I was able to procure thanks to one of my clients. I knew this day would come and I needed my story to be accurate. Funny thing is I don’t even know if there is a customer service department in CBN, I only knew I had to explain the large amounts of money that entered my account on a regular.

I show it to her and she takes it from me and begins to scan through as if looking for a fault. I don’t blame her, I expected the question when I first got them back but she never did ask but now that she has, I assume Jacqueline has something to do with it.

I simply look at the ice roll down the fanta that Efya has brought out from her fridge to serve to the serpents sitting right before me.

To my amazement they acted like everything would be ok between us all, in her words” after all its been 5 years 6 months”

Jacqueline looked like in the last 5 years all she did was smoke crack, while Djimon beat her and he looked like he swallowed a truck.

Torn out of my reverie by Jacqueline’s irritating laughter, I try to piece together whatever nonsense had been so funny.

“ you know Efya, you and your brother were the light of my life and I was devastated when you left me 3 years ago” she turns to me, “ Ajifa, my heart went out to you every day from the day you left us”

I look at her with such disgust. “so this same heart didn’t go out to me when your boyfriend was choke rapping me ehn? And explicitly performing his BDSM crap on me?”

Its official, I had become a graduate of History and International Relations and boy, did it feel good! I threw my cap up in the air with my mates and felt the wave of freedom envelop me. I looked back at the row for Efya and baba (who insists he be called Marvin) they both looked teary eyed. Efya was more so happy knowing where we came from and how this was almost an impossibility.

She was already enrolled at the University of Lagos studying statistics and I was the proudest I could have ever been of her.

I thought of the life I had built for myself and my siblings, it wasn’t too shabby. A beautiful house in Lekki Phase 1, a nice range rover sport, and a mini cooper, Marvin was in one of the best schools in Lagos and Efya was in her own rented and furnished apartment off campus.

We had everything we needed and there was nothing anyone could do to take this away from us. I had worked my back to the bone and I was damn proud of my achievements.

A story that follows the life of a young girl and her quest for redemption

Ajifa thought twice about what she was about to do, is this really what she had been lowered to doing? Would this have been her life had her parents been alive to give her all that she needed?

Sometimes it became so hard to bare the burdens of the family she was forced to take responsibility for. She wanted to risk her life in an Indiana Jones adventure or even skydive or so. But she knew her place as the head of the house was more important than her love for herself right now. She needed to survive for them.

She looked around her and tried to take in the surroundings that she was sure she would soon forget. She did know however that the broken bridge of madam Bridget’s nose pressed against the window in hopes of finding something new to talk about in her “ book club” would never leave her memory.

She adjusted Efya on her hip and put Baba in front of her so she could knock on the door right in front of her.